Wolverine Wednesday #49

Wolverine #19

Writer: Benjamin Percy | Artist: Javi Fernandez | Colourist: Matthew Wilson | Letters: Cory Petit

I didn’t think it was possible to get a great standalone issue in modern comics, especially in the Krakoan Age of X-Men comics we are currently in. But I am always happy to be proven wrong! What I like about this issue, in particular, is that even 19 issues into a new era and a solo book at that Percy is continuing to world build for the Krakoan Age. Don’t you just love the idea of Krakoa having its own myths and legends outside of the X-Men we all know and love? Part of why this issue I love this issue is because of all the allusions to Jaws. I love that movie! Moby Dick is another obvious inspiration. Percy after all is a literary guy so of course he is going to channel two classics to shape a Wolverine romp. As good as his narrative is a story of this genre is only as good as its artist. I think Benjamin Percy will agree with me when I say Javi Fernandez absolutely steals the show in this issue. On every page there is something happening. Whether it is more subtle allusions to Jaws and Moby Dick or the pulsating action of the chase. It is brilliant. There is a one-page spread where we see Logan’s baited hook sink lower and lower into the beast’s territory across four panels. The site of yellow barrels being pulled overboard and Logan surviving on a single piece of driftwood see Fernandez keep the Jaws homages coming. Steven Spielberg is a director known for iconic silhouettes in his movies. As you have probably guessed by now we get one here very close to a scene out of Jaws. Just switch Logan for Quint and you get the idea. To just point out where Fernandez is riffing on Jaws imagery would be selling his amazing art short. Like I said there is something happening on every page. Sevyr Blackmore’s pirate ship makes an appearance again and again it looks every inch heavy metal and menacing. The sequences of Logan out on the deck on his own are a perfect example of the solitary pursuit of fishing, albeit on a rather far fetched level. Two wordless pages brilliantly pace time, and tempo of Wolverine thrashing few the many tentacles of the beast. Like Logan, it leaves you breathless by the end of the confrontation. The icing on top of the cake is the double-page splash where we see the full magnitude of the beast as it leaps out of the water! Of course we do see it on Adam Kubert’s cover, but that is only the tip. Fernandez gives us it all! On the subject of the cover, in my mind it is a million miles away from what I would expect from a Kubert cover. I had to double-check the credits to see if it was him. It is what I would call a Tin Tin-esque cover. The beast is the dominant subject of the cover and Wolverine is like a tiny, very cartoony image right at the top. As well as being a very fun standalone issue what #19 also does is put a pin in the series so far. It is a nicely paced, done in one that leaves the series at an end point before the excitement of X Lives/Deaths of Wolverine which will dominate the Wolverine landscape for the coming months. I must say it was such a relief to see April’s solicitations complete with Wolverine #20. It could be argued that having it revealed already ruins the possibility of high stakes happening in X Lives/Deaths. My way of looking at it is much more positive. To me it says any high stakes that occur in X Lives/Deaths are probably going to be confined to the pages of those two series as #20 just seems to be picking up where the series left off. Oh and Deadpool makes an appearance. On a personal note as I get my comics in the post at the end of the month I will therefore be able to review X Lives/Deaths in larger chunks rather than issue by issue as it is a weekly title. So only two-plus weeks of me avoiding online spoilers before I can truly dig in.

As promised, new for 2022, I will be randomly reviewing an issue from Wolverine’s first ongoing series. I got a random number generator app at the ready so here we go…

Wolverine (1988) #78

Writer: Larry Hama | Artist: Adam Kubert | Inkers: Mark Farmer & Mike Sellers | Colourist: Steve Buccellato | Letters: Pat Brosseau

This issue is from February of 1994 and when I re-read it my immediate reaction was I don’t remember this one! You know how there are back issues that stick with you, well this isn’t one of them. Not to say it is a bad issue just nothing special. This issue is deep into Hama’s run on the series and it is done in one story. It revolves around Wolverine chasing Bloodscream and Cylla across the great Canadian north. Bloodscream is a vampire-like creature who first appeared in Wolverine #4. We actually get some of his origin in this story, which includes a fun flashback to his time with Sir Francis Drake. We also get some history to the Clan Yashida honour sword, so there are some good character moments and world-building going on. The story is pretty paint-by-numbers, but a little muddled at times. There are some good action sequences, like the strong opening of Wolverine on a motorcycle wearing a wolfskin bearing down on Bloodscream, sword poised to strike. I mentioned in one of my earlier reviews of the current Wolverine series how I feel Adam Kubert’s panel layouts are more experimental to his younger days. Looking at this issue I stand corrected. Although I did discover this issue was misprinted with much smaller art, so that may lend itself to his approach looking more experimental. There are the usual artistic suspects of the 90’s going on in this issue. We get not one but two sideways double-page splashes, as well as a traditional double-page splash. Not exactly an issue that reinvents the wheel when it comes to Wolverine stories, it does have a pretty decent ending though. No spoilers. The world-building and backstories are the only highlights really. I need to come up with a clever way of rating these Wolverine back issues. I do have two ideas, so maybe I will combine them. Watch this space…